Improvement in building brick walls for houses



vil'sirrsn STATES! OFFICE.

eLnvr eooDRIom-or sAN'Jos, cALIroRNIA.

lMPRQVEMENT iN BUlLDING BRICK WALLS FOR. HOUSES, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,418, (lated September 27, 1864.

clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specieation., in which-v Figure 1 represents a transverse vertical section of abrick wall, laid orput up according to my invention;'l`ig. 2, a horizontal section n of thesame, taken in the line. a', Fig. A1.

Figs. 3,14, 5, and 6 are horizontal sections of modifications of the same; Fig. 7, a transverse vertiealsection of amsdieatx'bnfothesameg- Fig. l8, a horizontal section of 7, taken in the line y y.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

Specification of Goodrichsiinproved hollow brick walls, showing the mode of constructing them, also their superiority for buildings and other purposes, over the common or solid brick walls, in cheapness, strength, and comfort.

The following is a description of their construction for an ordinary building of two or three storiesin hrightwith walls twelve inches thick, and this description will answer in many respects for most walls: The foundation-walls A,if of the ordinary height, I would lay up in the usual style solid to the height ofthe under side of theV first tier of floorbeams B, tying them in the usual way, or with wood, as hereinafter described,.for the hollow walls. From this last-.named level (the under side of first tier of Hoor-beams) I build two four-inch (half-brick) walls, C C, separated by an air space or chamber, D, of fourinches along the center of the walls, all the bricks being laid as stretchers with a-fnll and perfect bond with each other up to the next tier of floor-beams, E, introducingin the mortar-joints at every fourth, fifth, or sixth course, or as often as may be thought best,

as ties strips of wood or pieces of hoop iron, F, to tie the four-inch ,walls together to prevent them separating or collapsing, and otherwise strengthening the walls. These strips I lay diagonally acrossfrom one four-inch wall to the other-say atan angle of forty-ve'de-l grecs, or at'a greater or less-angle with the face of the wall, as one may think best. (Sec Fig. 2.) These strips of wood or ties I introduce in various ways. They may be placed in every joint, or inA every third, fourth, or tfth joint, orv as often as may be thought best, and along on the wall about al foot orften inches apart or nearer,'measuring parallel with and along the wall and at an angle with the face of the wall of about forty-five degrees or at a greater or less angle, laid -upon the naked brick, their ends extending to near the inner and outer faces of the wall, and buried in and overlaid by the following joint of mortar and layer of bricks. The next course of ties or braces are laid at the same angle to the taec attire-.wally but; ivi-he eppositeidirection from the preceding ties, and this rule l observe throughout the wall, the ties constantly alternating, appearing, when lookingr down the hollow space along the center of the wall, like lattice or herring-bone bridging between loor-beams','and giving'the same character of support to the walls as such bridging docs'to floor-beams, in addition to tying the walls in every other direction. Opposite and' at the ends ofevery setof licor-beams above the foundation beams, and entirely around the building, I build the-walls solid the depth' of the beams, as shown at a, Figs. 1 and 7, as nol dampness cany ever penetrate or' do harm at this point to any ofthe apartments, as the wall-plate would prevent all dampness going to the 'walls belowv it.4 This solid brick-work of four-or `five courses gives every facility'for anchoring the oorbeams to the exterior walls, and also distributes more equally the weights of the floors, roof, &c'., overboth the inside and outside walls, an'd makes-both walls su pport alike thev superstructure.

For walls for carrying very great. weight or 'of great height I adopt the following method :v

I increase the inner or outer wall to a single brick, (eight-inch wall,) orbuild three' fourinch walls, G, (see Fig.- 7,) with two air-'chaml bers, b b, or vspaces of any desired width from an inch t'o four inches or more, and let the laths or tics H run diagonally across the' three courses, as shown 'in Fig. 8, or build two sinv gle brick walls (eight-inch walls) with single air-space in the center, and tie the saine, as shown in Fig. 4, or build with internal alternating piers or buttresses c, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6. Either of these modes would answer for any place where a solid wall of the salue thickness would, answer, with all the herein- ,after-mentioned advantages of a hollow wall' and ties and braces.

nary eightinch solid wall, with other advan-l tages of the wall. Showing the width of' -bricks to View, of course, with our present ideas ot' proportion for brick work, would not bees pleasing as when laid the usual way, but when a house is designed to be stuccoed o utside this objection of looks would be removed. This mode would be an `excellent one for partition-walls.v The air-space in this wall for au outside wall it might `be advisable to make sonnev larger-say four or ve inches wide-giving, of course, so much more base to the wall, and, of course, adding materially to its strength. .I also introduce, togive addi tional strength to the walls4 where it may be required, internal alternating piers or huttrlefsses e, previously alluded to. These piersor buttresses, it will be seen, do not' touch but one of the walls., This style of wall will make a very stron g' building, considering the'thickness of the respective walls.

I have another ,plan of tying hollow walls, which consists of a large continuouswireJ', (see Fig. 5,) say about the si`ze of telegraph-wire. This I run zigzag from one wall to the other, lapping on each wall some three inches, and continuin entirely around the building, o`r from opening. to opening. It makes au excellent tie. y v y I will now mention vsome of the advantages .of this style of hollow brick walls over the-or dinary solid walls, especially where the wood.

or hoop-iron ties or braces are used. The former 1 should always use, and the latter only where great danger exists from fire, and then even I would alternately in every course'use them with the wooden ties, as thc'wood makes.

much stiffer work..

-Iwill speak' o't'. the ordinary twelve-inch wall; and when I speak of bricks I speak of them as eight by four by two and a half inches. First, a saving from the foundaticn of onethird the bricks, one-half the mortar, and onethird the labor, saves' all plugging of walls and wooden bricks for attaching casin gs, washboards, and all other trimmings both for the inside and the outside, as the 'ties may be laid' through the walls at convenient points for these purposes, and I find from practice that they answer admirably well for this purpose;

Saves all furrin g oft of wallsund lathin g them,

as the plastering maybe applied directly to thebri'ck walls without any danger of stains or dampness, and makes much better and more solid work, and is entirely free from all cracks.

-t makes'a much stron ger wall every wa y. 0n

a strain with its length, it will be seen, all the 1 bricks are laid, stretchers, and all of course have a'pert'ect bond with each other. ,This

style alsolooks much better, as all the bricks beiuglaidistretchers give it theappearance, as far as vthe bondis concerned,v of a pressed brick front. It also makes a strongerfwall to resist direct weigh t-thatis, ,resistance to `com pression-the same reasoning applying to it that proves a hollow-column above a certain height or length and of a certain thickness to bestron ger than a solid one. These, walls give every facility for ventilation for laying through them gas-pipes, waterpipes, soil-pipes, and all other pipes which may be used about a buildin g;

'There is much less difficulty in keeping this kind oi' wall plumb or from swaying while building, and while putting up floor-beams and other timbers, as experience has shown, and the wall` as a whole to be much stiffer. In fact there is no diiiiculty in keepin gitplumb and from swaying contingencies,which usually attend building of high and continuous solid walls. -This is not alone the eii'ect of the peculiar mode of bracing, which, of course, would and does have this ci'ect; but the fact that the heart of the wall being gone the wall inside dries as. fast as outside while going up, thereby allowing all parts ofthe wall to settle alike `and together, and Ithrowing the weight of the wall and .superstructure equally upon the whole Wall, which is not the case while building the ordinarysolid walls, which, while 'the lattershrinks on both surfaces, and does settle when it can on one surface or the other faster than the heart of the wall, thereby throwing the wall out of plumb, and out of line.

This lfact all builders acquainted with brickwork .are familiar with, and is the main cause of walls swaying out of plumb and out of line while the walls are new and the mortar green. There are other qualities this style of wall possesses that recommend it, especially in a country subject to earthquakes, among which are lightness, its elasticity or yieldingvnature to a sudden shock. It is a conceded fact that' a light wall will resist the shock of an ear-thquake better than a solid one, as there is not the ampunt of momentum while in motion as in the heavy wall; and I further believe that walls constructed as I here show them may be shaken until there is no bond between any of the bricks, and the ties or braces alone will hold it together and prevent the wall falling; but the great protection these walls afford against dampness, the great evil of all brick buildings built in the usual way, and in this respect it is perfect, and from iire from with` out and within, and` against heat and cold, the great facility for ventilation in every part of the building, and the very 'great saving in the expense of building, and the additional strength of these walls must recommend them above allI other modes ot' building brick walls now in use. A

Partially hollow brick walls isl no new thing. There are many modesof making them, as shown in Londons (English) Encyclopedia of Cottage, Farm, and `Villa Architecture, where Deans and Silverlocks methods aretreated of at length, also Downigs method, as shown in his Country Houses, as Well as: many lother l American,- English, French, and German methods Imight name;

lbut theim'ode- I .have here introduced di'ers them less than'one-fourth, and the most of,

them are from one-third to one-half, their superficial area solid, possessing, of course, to that extent all the objectionsof a solid brick wall, lacking the many'and great advantages I y'claim for the lattice bracing and tying.

I claim as newand desire to secure `by Letters Patent,- y 1,. The employment or use in hollow brick -wallsof angular diagonal lattice, or herring bone bridging, or, in other-words, bracingand tying with wood,- iron, stone, or other material laid in the mortar-joints while the walls are* in course ofy erection, substantiallyas and-for' the purpose herein set forth.

2. The internal brick piers or but'tressesa'- when used in connection with hollow-walls and ties or braces, substantially as and for; the purpose specified. Y

Levi' cwonrtngg. v- Witnesses ISAAC N. LENTER, J. C. PoT'rER. 

